Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner
by Forced Simile
Summary: Slightly AU: Piers is the man running from his past, Mia is the girl without one. Both must learn not to let the past dictate their lives. A story of gods, sea, and of course, love.


Call me crazy, but I had an urge to do this.  It's an AU (Alternate Universe) with a similar setting the normal game, the characters are just in a different situation.

This story is roughly based off of the poem "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" hence the name of the fic.  I'm even going to include snippets of it in the fic.  If you haven't read it, you should, it's a great poem.

This is an all out Picard/Mia story.  Don't like it don't read it.  There are plenty of other fics out there for you to read, you don't have to read mine.  ^_^

Now on with the story!

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Chapter One: Just a Little Change

_The Wedding Guest sat on a Stone:  
He cannot choose but hear;  
And thus spake on that ancient man,  
The bright eyed Mariner_

Picard stepped off of his boat and glanced around at the surroundings.  People passed too and fro, paying him no mind.  Exactly what he wanted, to sink into the background.  Picard brushed back a few strands of his blue hair and continued on into the town.  He stopped by a weapons shop near the beginning of the main street, hopefully someone in there would provide directions to a nearby inn.  A young girl with long red hair was sitting at the counter, reading a book.

"Excuse me," he said quietly.  The girl nearly dropped her book as she looked up at him.

"C-can I help you?" she stammered.

"Yes, he said, "Can you direct me to the nearest inn?"

"Continue down the street, there'll be a sign, you can't miss it," she said pointing towards her right her eyes never moving from his.  Picard smiled and nodded in thanks and headed out the door.  The sounds of a bustling town filled his ears.  It made him feel like he belonged, just another man trying to make it in the world. He entered the inn and stopped at the front desk.  A middle aged woman sat behind the desk and smiled pleasantly at him.

"What can I do for you?" she aksed.

"I request a week's stay at your inn, if there are any rooms available," Picard responded.  The innkeeper opened up a book full of charts and dates and skimmed her finger down the page.

"Let's see, we have one room available for that long," she said, "The price is 100 coins a night."

"I'll take it," Picard said, placing a week's worth of coins on the counter.  The innkeeper handed him his key and led him upstairs to his room.  Picard thanked her and entered the room.  It was pretty comfortable, it had a window that over looked the street, a fire place and a decent sized bed with a large quilt. He'd be fine here until he found a place to live.  Picard placed his bag on the floor beside his bed.  He was far from his home, far from everyone and everything he'd ever known.  He placed his head in his hands as he sat on his bed.

"It was for the best," he said, "I had to leave."

The young man glanced outside.  A steady, cold rain had begun falling.  He had heard that it was always rainy and dismal in this port town.  The cold surroundings were much different than that of his home.  Picard sighed and closed his eyes.  The ocean haired man pictured the lush surroundings and warm waters of his childhood haven. The places to which he could never return.

***

Early the next morning Picard set out in finding a job.  He was an experienced sailor, so he figured it would be fairly easy to land a job, especially here, in a sea faring town such as this one.  He was right, as the blue haired man passed the town's bulletin board in the square he found a call for new sailors on a fishing boat.  Picard grabbed the flyer and headed for the docks.  It seemed like an easy job, it should land him enough money to buy some sort of living area.  The young mariner glanced at the name of the ship.

"Snow Maiden," he read slowly.  Picard's pace slowed slightly.  He shook his head and continued on.

"It's probably just coincidence," he mumbled as he came to the captain's office by the docks.  A man with spiky brown hair was sitting behind a desk.  He acknowledged him with a nod and motioned for him to sit down.

"Are you here for a job on the boat?" he asked.  Picard nodded.  The man whipped out a form.

"First name," he said curtly.

"Picard," the young sailor replied.

"Age?"

"Twenty-two," Picard answered warily.  If the man knew of his true age, there could be some misunderstandings.

"Any experience?"

"I've Whaling in the Great Eastern Sea since I was fourteen," he answered.  The man behind the desk stopped writing.

"Whaling?  In the G.E.?" he repeated.  Picard nodded.

"You certainly are a long way from home, what island are you from?" the captain inquired.  Picard gulped.

"I'm from the Apoji Islands," he lied.  The man arched his eyebrows and stroked his chin reflectively.

"Really?"

Picard nodded.  He knew very well he didn't look anything like an Apojian, but if he told the man where he was really from, he'd never believe him.

"Welcome to the Snow Maiden," he said shaking Picard's hand, "My name's Kyle, I'll be your captian."

Kyle stood up and opened the door.

"Let me introduce you to the crew," he said.  Picard followed him outside.  The ship was a navy blue color with gold accents.  Picard watched as the crew scurried about, and smiled. It seems things weren't much different here than at his old ship.  The two men walked up the gang plank and onto the decks.  A blonde haired boy ran towards them.

"Dad, we'll be ready to go out to sea in a week," he reported.  Kyle smiled and slapped the young man's shoulder.

"That's great, son," he replied, "Picard, this is Isaac, my son and first mate.  Isaac, this is Picard, our new crew member."

Isaac grinned and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you," the blonde boy said cheerily.

"By Luna, not another one!" a voice from above called.  They group looked up to see a spiky red haired boy climbing down the ship's mast.

"That's Garet, the second mate," Kyle said with a hearty grin.  Garet jumped down and scurried over to them.

"Not another what?" Picard asked, obviously confused.

"Blue haired busy body," the boy said as he started pacing around him.

"What do you mean by that?" a harsh female voice said.  The group of men looked over to the blue haired young woman tapping her foot impatiently on the deck.

"Hi, Mia!" Garet said with a grin.  The girl grabbed his ear and gave it a harsh yank.

"Don't 'Hi, Mia' me!" she snarled.  She turned her attention to Picard suddenly.

"Who are you?" Mia said with a blank expression on her face.

"I'm Picard, I'm a new crew member," he said holding out his hand.  Mia stared at him some more and then took his hand.

"I'm Mia, the ship's doctor," she said.  Picard couldn't take his eyes off her icy blue ones.  She released her hand from his grasp and grabbed Garet's ear.

"Come on, you're going to help Jenna and I put the medicine boxes on the ship!" she ordered.  Garet yelped in response.  Picard stared after them for a few moments.  His encounter with Mia was rather, odd.  He hoped he hadn't offended her.

"I think Mia likes you," Kyle said.  The blue haired man smiled and laughed a little.

"You think so?" he asked.  Isaac nodded.

"You're the first person she's ever greeted politely," he added, "She was rather cold, but she was polite.  Mia's pretty cold with everybody."

Picard raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" he asked.  Isaac stretched a little.

"Yeah," he continued, "Go easy on Mia, she's had it hard.  She doesn't even know where she comes from, she just washed up on our shores one winter day around four years ago."

Picard was silent.  Four years ago he made a mistake that cost so many people their lives.  Hopefully here, on this ship he could forget.  Forget the day he crossed paths with a god, and angered it.  The day he killed the albatross.

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More mushy romancy stuff to happen soon.  Soon.  One day…


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